A digital book, which is also known as an electronic book or an e-book, is the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book. Typically, digital books are structured as virtual frames presented on a display device. During a reading session a user may turn or change from one virtual frame or “page” to another. Advantageously, the “pages” are not fixed permanently, and may be redefined or repaginated based on variances in display conditions, such as screen size, font type or size, margins, line spacing, resolution, etc.
Conveniently, digital books may be read on personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, etc., or on dedicated hardware devices known as e-book readers or e-book devices. Another convenience that is associated with digital books is the ability to purchase and download, or download and store, a reading selection directly from a digital library or commercial site. Some e-book readers, such as for instance Amazon's Kindle 2, use a 3G wireless network to allow the user to download digital books directly to the device, even if a Wi-Fi hotspot is not available. Other devices that can be “repurposed” for reading digital books, such as for instance Apple's IPod Touch, achieve similar functionality using a local wireless network connection.
Digital books currently offer several conveniences compared to conventional printed books. For instance: text can be searched automatically and cross-referenced using hyperlinks; font size and font type can be customized; non-permanent highlighting and annotation is supported; animated images or multimedia clips are supported; reading can resume automatically at the last read page, etc. In addition, a single e-book reader containing the text of several digital books is easier to carry around than the same books in printed form. Furthermore, the backlit display of an e-book reader allows reading in low light, or even in total darkness.
Of course, lending libraries of digital books are known. For instance, many public libraries currently allow registered patrons to borrow digital books via a library webpage. In this type of system the patron typically borrows a digital book from the lending library for a predetermined finite period of time, after which time the digital book is returned automatically to the digital book lending library. In practice, the digital book is made available for being viewed by the patron during the predetermined finite period of time, such as for instance using a display portion of an electronic device that is associated with the patron. Once the predetermined finite period of time has elapsed the digital book is no longer accessible using the electronic device, unless of course the patron “renews” the loan. Advantageously, digital libraries offer their patrons the convenience of being able to borrow digital books at any time, usually twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, without ever having to enter a physical branch of the library. In addition, patrons do not need to be concerned about incurring late return fees, since the digital books are returned automatically at the end of the loan period.
Of course, a digital book lending library also shares some features in common with traditional bricks-and-mortar libraries. For example, when one patron is using a license that is associated with a digital book, then that digital book is not available for being loaned to any other patron until after it has been “returned.” Generally, a digital book is loaned to a patron for a predetermined finite period of time—the loan period—such as for instance 14 days or 21 days, although any arbitrary loan period may be defined. Of course, the patron is highly unlikely to access the digital book continuously during the entire loan period. As a result, typically the digital book is not being utilized during substantial blocks of time within any given loan period. For instance, the digital book is not utilized when the patron is sleeping, attending classes, working, etc. Since the patron retains the license during the entire loan period, the result is that the digital book tends to be under utilized even though other patrons may require access to the same digital book.
The above-mentioned problems are most serious when a large number of patrons require simultaneous access to the same digital book. For instance, students that are registered in a particular course need to have access to required reading books at certain specific times during the course. When the number of students exceeds the number of licenses available, then some of the students are unable to borrow the digital book. Additionally, some of the students that are able to borrow the digital book may later be unable to renew the loan because, in the mean time, another patron has placed a hold on the digital book. Thus, borrowing certain digital books during certain periods of time becomes highly competitive, forcing some students to purchase the digital books instead of borrowing them.
It would be advantageous to provide a method and system that overcomes at least some of the above-mentioned limitations of the prior art.